The Fall From Grace
by The Wandering Warrior
Summary: After the destruction of Requiem, the Covenant Empire collapsed and together with the UEG formed the Systems Alliance. After discovering an unknown cache of hitherto unseen before technology and the discovery of what is to become known as 'Mass Relays' the face of the galaxy will be changed forever.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is the first time I wrote a Fanfic so please forgive any mistakes. This is also a pilot to see your reactions to the story. This story takes place after Spartan Ops and everything before the end of episode 10 of season 1 will be the 'history' of this story. Please review once you're done.**

**Edit: Since many people disliked this chapter so much, I decided to edit/update it before I continue with the story. I also changed the rank and rewrote most of the chapter, so do not be surprised and do not worry; it does not affect the rest of the story much. I do hope it's not too much of an info dump either. Don't forget to review!**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: An Unprecedented Discovery**

**Mars**

**December, 2570**

With the Sun slightly obscured by the brown dust that is Martian soil, setting on the horizon to the East, two figures march in total silence in towards a line of cliffs in the distance in an otherwise an outwardly empty open desert with nothing but the crunch of soil underneath their boots being the only sound heard. But this worries Private First Class Micheal of the Alliance Army, as in an open Martian desert such as this, the sound can be carried for miles without anything to obstruct it. Being new to the planet, he is unaware of how dangerous the local fauna can be. Sure they were briefings about it but he did not expect himself to be out here so he did not pay attention.

He glanced back at the taller Sangheili who had almost literally dragged him out here. The Sangheili, being more military minded, talked to everyone about coming out here to get to know the lay of the land. After many rejections, R'tas 'Moram first tried to convince him to join him instead of going on leave, but upon failing; decided to just drag him out here. Not that he wanted to join the military in the first place.

Citizens of the Alliance had two choices upon reaching the age of maturity of their respective races; one year of military service or two years of civil service. Those who wanted out quick joined the military or if lucky enough, are pardoned from the mandatory service altogether. Since he failed to be the first to be pardoned, he decided to do what most did, join the military. What a great idea that turned out to be.

Cracking his neck, he notices not for the first time that soon it will be dark and they have to find shelter. Although he thinks the Sangheili accompanying doesn't mind sleeping in the open. He turned back and saw the Sangheili, seemingly unconcerned about the fact that there are only a few moments of daylight left looking at something in the distance or perhaps just daydreaming.

"Hey, R'tas," he called out.

The Sangheili merely turned his head and stared at him with beady brown eyes filled with curiosity.

"Know where we are heading?" Micheal asks calmly.

"I think we are going to the cliffs. There should be caves where we can seek shelter," R'tas said flatly.

"Sometimes I wish you can be more open," he said before adding "You keep to yourself too much,"

"I am with my own thoughts,"

He is starting to think that R'tas had failed his English exam, or at the very most passed as he seems to lack vocabulary. Since humans are the most populous in the Alliance compared to other races and English being the most widely spoken; it is only natural for it to become the lingua franca.

Thinking back to how inferior humanity was to the Covenant when they first encountered, they had come so far to the point that the Covenant and the UNSC had joined up. Just because of a famine.

Years ago, a famine spread across Covenant worlds, one at a time. It started slowly at first, appearing as small manageable ones causing minimal damage. Then crops across the entire Covenant failed at once overnight. Livestock quickly died out and there were severe food shortages.

Even the UNSC was affected although somehow managed to recoil from the loss of food. UNSC efforts to help the Covenant plant new strains ended in misery and failure. The Arbiter even begged on his knees, a place no Sangheili has ever gone to, begging for the UNSC to share their food.

The UNSC reluctantly agreed. As time went by, there seems to be no sign of the end of the famine. Eventually the Covenant Empire collapsed. Population losses were massive even with UNSC help but nothing like what they had wrought upon humanity a few years prior. Somehow, somewhere, a deal was struck. The Covenant Empire and the UEG will become a single entity. The System Alliance was born.

While each planet governs itself, they all ultimately answer to the Alliance. Like states self-governing in some areas and the central government dealing with the rest. The seat of government was moved to the newly re-terraformed Reach and the military capital to Sanghelios once things improved. And they did, and surprisingly quickly too.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"What? Oh it's nothing,"

"Then tell me how we are going to get to those cliffs before dusk. That's when the desert is most active. It will be crawling with wildlife, many dangerous," R'tas hissed.

"Hey it is your expedition! I thought you have planned for everything before we came out here," he replied slightly annoyed.

"I did not account for your short legs,"

He snorted in response to the insult. He did not want to start an argument.

Now that he mentioned it, they needed to get to the cliffs which are at least another 4 kilometers away, find a suitable cave, since R'tas is taller than him by at least a head and start a fire with only an hour of daylight remaining. Even though the nights are not as cold as it was before the terraforming of the planet centuries ago, it still was cold. And he did not want to be feeling chilled to the bone for a few hours before falling asleep. He had no doubts that R'tas will be able to survive the night alone and the look in his eyes says so.

He concluded that R'tas was genuinely concerned for his wellbeing as they could survive together in the open if they can start a fire. Although he may or may not be as fit as he is now the following morning while R'tas would most likely be unfazed.

As he completed the thought, the ground beneath his feet gave way and he plunged into the darkness screaming. After falling a considerable distance he hit the ground beneath him on his side, but not as hard as he thought he would.

"Are you all right?" A voice from above inquired.

Groaning, he turned onto his back and looked up. He felt as if he was staring into a light that penetrated the darkness around him. The way he believes Christians see the light as they died. And so he does the first thing that came to his mind.

"Are you an angel?" Instead of hearing anything comprehensible, or even remotely familiar, he heard to him what sounded like a string of clicking and hissing noises coming from above him which he presumed is Sangheili.

"I am just kidding R'tas. I'm fine," Micheal said as he painfully stood up brushing the brown dust off his similarly colored fatigues that has gathered on him from the moment he set out on this trip while observing his surroundings, his eyes readjusting to the grim impenetrable darkness.

"I will lower a rope into the hole and get you out of there," came again the voice, echoing of the walls of the cavern. If that is what it is. He fumbled prying into his backpack he has been carrying for the past 6 hours looking for a flashlight. It felt like minutes have past when he finally found it.

As he turned it on, he could see that it was a tunnel. This tunnel led to a dust encrusted metal wall about 20 meters on one side and stretching another 30 meters on the other side leading to a brown wall. The sides of the tunnel are very wide, roughly as wide as the tunnel is as tall.

Upon closer inspection, the tunnel seems to be supported by pillars which are, like the metal wall, dust encrusted. He knew instinctively that they were metal, and know that he thought about it, could not explain why. The architecture looked alien, not Covenant, human or even Forerunner. And he had seen quite a bit of Forerunner architecture before.

"What do you see," a voice, which had been silent the whole time and no doubt R'tas's interrupted Micheal's train of thought as a rope is lowered.

"I don't know." He began. "But I think we discovered something big,"

**Edit:There you have it! Improved chapter 1. I will try to stick to my promise on posting a new chapter around Christmas but quite a bit has turned up so I may be delayed a little. Don't forget to drop a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Thanks for all the love and support. Once again constructive criticism is welcome. They help a lot really. As you probably noticed, this is my first attempt at writing a story. I might have good ideas but often have problems expressing it. Once again, thanks!**

**Chapter 2: The Calm Before The Storm**

**New Sparta, Shanxi**

**March 1****st****, 2587 **

The sun above Micheal Shepherd shone brightly above him and even under the shade of the tree he was sitting under; he could feel the heat growing as it reached its zenith. Before him sat a group of children on the short grass aged from 4 to 9 staring at him as he was The Almighty Himself which made him forget the slight discomfort. Except that he did not believe in Him, but the children did as the majority of the town was of Polish descent who still hold on to their catholic belief. They came to him to listen to his stories not because he is good at telling them, but because he is one of the few who would.

"So why were you in the Martian desert again Mr. Shepard?" a small voice in the back squeaked which no doubt belonged to Aleksy.

"If you would just stop picking the scalp on your leg you would have heard why," the little girl before him said.

The situation was going to go out of hand soon if he did nothing about it and so he raised his hand and spoke calmly "Now, now. Don't fight. I will just tell it again. After all it was that event that brought me here. "

He looked at the children before him and noted that a Sangheili child had somehow slipped among the other children during the commotion. It has to be R'tas's youngest son. No it is his son. Even when the Alliance made only survival training compulsory after weeks of squabbling among the senate, R'tas still trained his sons how to track, hunt, survive and kill. Something he taught his own children who were now 19 and 15 years old now. Unlike most of the people here who allowed their children to grow up not knowing war as most of them fought in one or another, he raised Jeremy and John in a similar fashion to the Sangheili to be ever ready for combat.

"Mr. Shepard," a familiar voice said. "Oh, sorry. Um, where was I?" Micheal looking at the girl who asked. 'What was her name again? Dominika? Yes,yes it is,' he thought to himself. 'I must be getting old,'

"You are telling us why you were out with Mr. 'Moram. Again," Dominika said, stressing the last word. Aleksy glared at her as a warning but she merely smiled back.

"That week" he began, while shifting to a more comfortable position. "I was supposed to be on holiday. Like you are now" He gestured towards the children. "But Mr. 'Moram was new to Mars as he lived on Earth as a refugee with his family,"

"When he joined my squad, he pestered me to go with him to get the lay of the land in order to fight better,"

"So, you went with him?" Aleksy asked.

"Yes, after he gave a really longwinded speech on how it will help him feel more comfortable and secure here. The base we were at was surrounded by kilometers of desert you see," At this moment, Micheal saw his younger son, John, heading towards him. The way he walked has an air of confidence but by the look of his face something was not right. "So if we had to run for some reason, we know where we can hide and so on,"

"What happened after that?" another boy asked.

"We told headquarters what happened, well at least Mr. R'tas did. I was rescued and the rest of the story is with the explorers. Now run along, it seems something important has turned up,"

Most of the children were already heading back towards the town directly opposite where he sat talking as he slowly stood up. He was not that old but he had apparently hurt his right knee in the past and could not put too much weight on it or pain will shoot up his leg. John chose this moment to jog the 10 meters between them.

John, rather tall, standing perfectly upright can intimidate a person by his mere presence. His expressionless face, although handsome, added to that feeling. Now however he stood slightly hunched with his eyes cast down at the green grass, a sign of respect he has adopted since he was little.

"What is it?"

"Another one was taken father. The second this week father," After the colony was established 6 months ago, cows were brought in as the condition was perfect for them. The local animals were very small despite the higher oxygen levels. The apex predator on this region of the planet is a hawk like bird which is no larger than a small beagle. So the death of such a large animal was a cause for alarm but attempts to find out who or what killed them always ends in failure.

"Don't tell me you're going to look for it again?" he said with an air of sadness.

"Yes. And it left tracks this time. I can follow it,"

"Is someone going with you?"

"No, they would slow me down and they would make too much noise. Unless it is Jeremy, but he needs to practice for Veteran's Day despite what happened," Veteran's Day is a day where the dead of all wars especially the Human-Covenant War. The day was moved to the day hostilities were officially ended, namely March 3rd so soldiers from both sides can be honored. Normally parades, games and reenactments would be conducted and volunteers would dress up as soldiers from different periods of history, real veterans sometimes will show up in real equipment, and he presumed R'tas will do just that.

However, this was his son. And he did not want to lose him, or spend some time with him before he does. Going after an unknown creature, escaped detection from the Alliance Navy only 4 months prior before colonization, is very dangerous indeed," Then at least have a meal with your father before you leave will you?"

**Relay 314, fringes of Citadel Space**

On the bridge of the lead cruiser BHV Vigilance, Commander Kylan paces impatiently, feet clanging ; annoyed by the fact that the four frigates were delayed. The Batarian Hegemony has assigned them the mission to enter the relay ahead of Citadel forces to clear up everything of value from the systems beyond six months ago but the frigates were vital to the mission being able to enter a planet's atmosphere. The Hegemony had deliberately created problems to divert the attention from the Council in order to allow the team time to do it. Now, with delay after delay, the plan was to go after the Prothean artifacts on the garden world the Council has scouted previously.

With problem settled, the 'practice' fleet to introduce the Hegemony to the duties of opening open dormant relays into the uninhabited system was only days away. Attempts to stir up other problems have failed. So they were forced to go ahead, knowing if they were too slow and were caught; the Hegemony will label them as renegades and jeopardize the Council seat that was about to be theirs.

"Sir, in coming message on tight beam," ensign Bray reported suddenly.

"What does it say?"

"It's from the frigates sir. They are less than a day away and will be joining us shortly,"

"Thank you ensign," And he let himself breathe a sigh of relief. The frigates are almost here. He wanted to make it in and out as quickly as possible before the practice fleet arrives. Finally things are looking up.

Little do the inhabitants of Shanxi or the Batarian fleet know that their lives will are about to change.

**So there you have it, chapter 2. I hope that I have improved upon my writing skills and did not disappoint any of you. The next chapter will probably not be out as quickly as this one as I have exams to attend to. Once again, read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: After looking at other fanfics and mine, I noticed that I've been writing a little short and so decided to extend the length of the chapters to about 2000 words. It's surprising no one noticed. **

* * *

**Chapter 3: Two Discoveries**

**New Sparta Outskirts, Shanxi**

**March 1****st****, 2987**

John Shepard is standing in a seemingly empty field. To an untrained eye that is. To John it was a treasure trove of information. As an expert tracker, he could tell that cows were here in the morning grazing, and had been led away when one of the cows went missing.

That is why he is here. The more he studied the tracks, the more confused he became. The cow that went missing was killed. Anyone can see that, or at least tell something has lost a large amount of blood at once. His best guess is the cow's throat had been slit and the patch of grass that is slightly compressed says that it lay there for some time before it was moved.

The culprit's tracks appeared from nowhere. He, no it, he was not ready to rule out an animal they had not previously encountered. And he also did not want to run into a mad cow killer who he may know. It was a village after all, barely a thousand people, roughly the same size as the Army garrison in the other side of town.

He then followed the tracks into the forest to the East, away from the village. What disturbs him most is that the cow was moved in broad daylight without the heavily armed, highly alert, ex-military herders that stood guard. Some even rode on horseback. If this was the first time, it would make sense as the herders will be more relaxed, due to the small apex predators in the region. But it was not the first, and certainly not the second. The guards would have been on high alert.

"Interesting," he mutters softly to himself as he discovers something very strange. The tracks at the field were obscure. It took a trained eye to detect it. A broken twig here, a slightly compressed turf of grass there, but here! The tracks went into the mud pool before him, and not a meter to either side there was solid ground! He is starting to consider the idea that whoever or whatever did this, it wanted to be followed; but not by anyone.

As he continued for hours, taking only a break once or twice and stopping a few times for water, he found more evidence to support his idea. The tracks wound around rocks that were low enough to easily step over, or on. Hunters and sometimes animals would step on the rocks to lose inexperienced trackers or inconvenience experienced enough ones. Even simple animals which track can do this, let alone something that can lift a fully grown cow and walk this far, at least 2 hours, as far as he could tell, without resting. Unless this animal is overconfident? A possible explanation, but he would soon figure it out when he finds its lair.

As he weaved through the undergrowth he noticed a change in the environment. There are no longer any animal sounds. That means something may have spooked them. He slowed down his pace and found himself entering familiar territory.

Months earlier, he explored this very forest. So parts of it are familiar to him and he was entering one such place now. He knew nearby there is a small cave, large enough for a number of people to comfortably fit in. As he followed the tracks further, it led in the caves general direction before disappearing.

He looked around, moving in an ever expanding arc, sweeping the ground in the direction the tracks were leading, but to no avail. "Damn,"

He knew there is only one place to go now and he gathered himself and marched on, keeping his eyes peeled for the sign of tracks. As he approached the cave, he could smell something bad. He knew it before he saw it.

As he walked around a bush, he came upon an unfamiliar clearing. He could see the stumps of trees that used to stand proud and tall. The very trees he climbed when his father took him Jeremy and to camp in the very cave on the other side of the clearing months ago. And now it was completely different.

It was as if someone made the cave into a temple of a sick cult. As he moved into the cave he could taste the rotting flesh. He wanted to vomit but he controlled the urge and swallowed anything that came up. One thing he noticed was that the smooth walls of the cave were smeared with blood, and then he saw the altar leaning against the far wall.

It was made of bones, no doubt those of the dead cows judging by their size. It was horrible, with ribs jutting out to the sides from what looks like a semicircular table with the other bones stacked on the back only partially obscured by the rotting organs piled onto the center. Above the altar were the skulls of the cows with their skin still on them, arrayed in an arc around the altar with the very top empty.

He did not know how long he was in the cave, but he was in there long enough. As he tried to quietly sneak out, he realized he wasn't alone as he exited the cave. In his peripheral vision, he saw a figure to his left. As he turned towards it, he jumped backwards and assumed a defensive crouch completely abandoning stealth against his training. But he wanted to know who or what this is and wanted to kill it for what it had done after finding out why.

The man was tall, in a business suit that was somehow remarkably clean so far from civilization. He was also handsome with neatly combed chestnut brown hair and a perfect set of teeth showing through his frighteningly genuine warm smile; the same way a mother would lovingly smile at her child. His eyes however tell a very different story. His blue eyes bored into him, highly observant, waiting for his next move. But the thing that angered him most, frightened him even, was that he knew this man, respected him, even loved him. He saw him as another father as his own father saw him as an elder brother. Someone who would look out for you in times of trouble, only to become this, a monster. A monster who would desecrate the very place where he had so many happy memories. Some with this very man.

He finally quelled his anger and stood upright now doubtless of his guilt and said "Hello Mr. Harper,"

* * *

**Aboard ANS **_**Shadow of Intent**_

"Captain Hackett, the flotilla is about to exit FTL in 2 minutes," said a holographic image of a man a toga.

"Very good Trajan," he replied before taking a sip from his cup of warm coffee. "Right on schedule, warm the plasma cannons and prepare the nukes for launch,"

Sitting back in the captain's chair, he wondered what is to become of the ship. Powerful as it might be, it is outdated and does not have the firepower of the newer assault carriers of roughly the same size and so will be retired. This mission will be the last the ship will take part in. Being one of the few ships that survived the Human-Covenant War, and also one of the most highly decorated ships of the Alliance, she may be retired as a museum.

The Alliance however, has barely recovered from the Great Famine and the damage was greatest on former Covenant worlds which outnumber then pre-Covenant war UNSC worlds two to one. Planets like Joyous Exultation were only recently declared safe for recolonization and so he doubted the Alliance can spare resources decommissioning the ship to turn it into a museum instead of scrapping it outright. Add to the fact that he can think of at least one highly decorated ship that was scrapped after the war was over.

He tried to occupy his mind with other things as Trajan announced that they are about to exit FTL. "Exiting at unknown Mass Relay in three, two, one,"

In a 20 bright blue flashes of Cherenkov radiation, the flotilla exited FTL and arrived in an unknown system.

"What do we have here?" Hackett said as he observed the readings.

"we appear to have entered a system with a neutron star and there is nothing else in the system save for the asteroid belt one trillion kilometers from it," Trajan replied as he appeared as his blue avatar on the console to his right.

"So why are you wearing armor instead of the toga?" he asked, noticing the detail for the first time. On his head is a Roman helmet which was clearly reinforced. Covering most of the body was mail armor with a tunic poking out underneath and Roman arm greaves almost entirely covered Trajan's arms consistent with the armor during Trajan's Dacian Campaign. He also noticed the sandals that he wore, detailed enough to count the straps as much as he could count the chain rings on the mail of the 21 centimeter avatar.

"I detected 12 anomalies as I created slipspace jump coordinates here. The sensors detected ever changing gravitational fields consistent with the theoretical usage of element zero on a large scale in ships. Should I send the order to the supply ships to jump into slipspace?"

"Eezo huh. Are they moving?" Only 12 ships. There could be others.

"No sir, they have powered down however, but apparently not enough," Trajan said confidently.

"Then do not send the order, we do not want to spook them," he said before adding "send the first contact package and also send a message to meet up at the edge of the asteroid field,"

* * *

"Mass Relay is powering up. Percentage of possible arrival of organic ships is 8.6%'"

"We should take precautions regardless. Our fleet is too small to oppose any incoming force,"

"Consensus has been reached; we will power down all ships and platforms to minimum and asses the treat before deciding any further action,"

"20 ships have exited the relay; none of them match known designs and of them, four are of sizes that require tremendous feats of engineering. The largest is 5.3 kilometers long and three others at 2 kilometers long and one wide. The remainder are in normal size range and includes multiple designs,"

"Possibility of multiple species exists several are of 2 possible conflicting designs with the three 2 kilometer vessels seemingly the fusion of both,"

"Scans show no traces of eezo. How is this possible?"

"Interaction with organics result in violence 99.98% of the time, we should engage or withdraw,"

"Engaging is suicidal, the smallest ships at nearly 600 meters show energy readings similar to that of dreadnoughts,"

"Consensus has been reached, we will withdra-"

"Wait, message incoming from unknowns. Appear to be first contact package,"

"Very well, we will initiate first contact with these unknowns,"

"We will send a platform with a greater number of programs to interact with the organics at the neutral meeting local,"

* * *

"We will meet you at the designated location in half an hour," The monotonous voice rang out, audible

"That's all?" the sole Jiralhanae asked. "That's all they said? Are you sure Trajan?"

"Yes, it is apparently," Captain Hackett replied. "And you're coming with me as part of the security team Marebus. Trajan?"

"Yes sir?" said the A.I. as it turned towards him.

"Bring the largest Spartan and Sangheili along as well. We'll take the ANS Defiance to the meeting point," he said as he stood up to ready himself for the meeting.

"They will be ready," Trajan assured.

* * *

**Who can guess the mysterious race gets an imaginary high 5. Those who can't will have to imagine something else. It's very obvious actually and drop a review regardless whether you can guess them or not. I also will not be free in the next few weeks so do not expect another chapter until around Christmas. Don't forget to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

**Somewhere in the forest of Shanxi**

"Hello Mr. Harper,"

Upon hearing the response of, to him, a child, he decided to stop acting and resumed his normal attitude. To someone who does not know him it would appear as if he had changed personalities in an instant. He now stood upright, his chest swelled with pride and his head is tilted upwards with his eyes looking down upon the boy, who is of average height and by no means a worthy opponent, let alone an equal.

"I believe you should call me Mr. Mayor as it should be," he said as he crossed one arm across his chest to support the other which he used to support his head at the chin in a thoughtful manner.

"Why?" The boy merely replied in a tone both inquisitive and threatening.

"I have a multitude of reasons and none of them concerns you,"

"You'll never get away with this,"

"How cheesy. All I have to do is first kill you then knock myself on the back of the head and run back to town crying," He then clears his throat as if he is about to give a speech before resuming in a clearly exaggerated voice, "Oh somebody do something! There is a madman in the woods and he's got poor John. Oh the humanity!"

"They will see through it," John remarked scornfully.

"I won't do it exactly like that. You are dumber than your father! How much more of a challenge would this be if it was Jeremy here instead of you! But not the two of you, you would get in Jeremy's way,"

At this he can clearly see John's face reddening and his right hand reach for his side, no doubt going for his concealed pistol. He then quickly brushed aside his overcoat revealing a plasma pistol, not very different from the one used during the Human-Covenant War but is however much newer and efficient.

"There is no way you can draw faster than me. I am much faster than your father and I am to him what he is to you,"

John has no choice but to concede defeat. He would never be able to beat him in a draw, so he ran through his options in his head, racing to find a way out. The antique beam rifle slung on his back faces the same problem as the pistol on his hip and the knife behind him is too large to be thrown. Which leaves him with one option, the two daggers on his back at the base of his neck. They are concealed, but so was his pistol. What if he saw through his plan? After a second of thought he realized he has no other choice. Escape is impossible. He probably knows the forest better than he and is much stealthier and can remain hidden even from him.

He decides to go with a plan that might work. The only one that will. He bows his head in defeat and buries his face in his hands but at the instant he hears a snort from his would be murderer he reaches for his daggers and looks up, looking into the shocked face of Jack Harper.

He was shocked to see determination in the boys eyes as he looked up, expecting to find a defeated child, accepting his fate. But in those eyes he saw a glint of death, the kind when people believe they have nothing to lose. How could he have made such a miscalculation? John was tougher than he had previously thought, but it was of no matter now. He had a game to play.

As John swings both arms forward, no doubt releasing the two deadly daggers that they held towards him; he twisted one side and drew his pistol and begun to swing back when only one knife had flew passed the space his torso had once occupied. He had made another miscalculation John had only loosed one dagger; the other would be coming at him with an underhand throw from John.

Most people at this moment would try to stop and move back only to find a knife in their gut, but he is not most people. He pushed himself forward even more twisting and jumping at the same time trying to move out of the path of the knife that would be no doubt whizzing at him now.

As he landed and stood upright, he realized that his hand hurts. He had not felt pain for so long he could not control himself. He screamed in pain dropping his pistol on the ground, staring at the three inch dagger that had buried itself to the hilt in his wrist, with most of it sticking out on the palm side.

Through teary eyes, he looked at John who had already begun drawing his pistol. Instinct took over. He pulled out the dagger from his hand and threw it at John in one swift movement and vanished.

After dogging his own dagger that was thrown at him by the Mayor, he turned around to find nothing. Nothing but an empty field which was almost peaceful, if not for the blood that was spilled upon the green grass and the treachery that he had witnessed first-hand. He turned quickly to a sound on crunching rock at his left to find the Mayor had drawn a wicked knife and had already lunged at him from above the mouth of the cave.

He tried to raise his pistol, but was knocked out of his hand when the Mayor slammed into him where he in turn, used his left hand to keep the Mayor's own left hand from plunging the knife into him. As he landed on his back, he kicked at the Mayor from behind while simultaneously pushing with his hands. The result: The Mayor being tossed over and away from himself.

He swung his legs above him and back down, pushing the ground with his hands positioned on either side of his head and in one deft movement, was back on his feet. He turned around to find the Mayor still there, holding the same wicked knife in his left. In response, he drew his own from behind him and assumed a defensive crouch.

Now they faced each other as equals. Both of them sizing up their respective adversaries knowing not to underestimate him or else face the possibility of death. As they begun circling each other, testing the ground beneath, lunging at their opposite; swinging or stabbing with their bladed weapon before quickly pulling back. Unlike most knife fights which resorted to a test of strength with both trying to restrain their other with their left hand and using their right to overpower his left to kill him, this one is a test of skill and intelligence made only possible because of the Mayor's injured right hand.

So they circled each other, trying to outwit one another. John decided to take a risk to break this temporary stalemate. He feigned an overhand and rushed forward. The Mayor, dodged nothing and turned back too late discovering his opponent had not thrown away his knife.

John with all his might sent the knife upwards into the Mayor's abdomen and into his chest cavity. He held the knife with both hands, now supporting the dying Jack Harper who does not seem to comprehend this and looked down, seeing the knife in him before looking back at the child who had bested him in the eyes, seeing only hatred and determination before his world was consumed by black.

John kept Mr. Harper upright despite having seen the light fade from his eyes a little while longer, just to be sure. The then let go and took a step back and then avoided the corpse of what was once his and his father's idol, once a great man who became a monster, which dropped to the ground with a thump.

He continued to stare at the body for some time before falling to his knees and buried his face in his hands and cried.

* * *

**March 1****st**** 2587. Alliance Military Calendar.**

**ANS Defiance, Unnamed System. 0942 Hours.**

The air within the Defiance is tense with anticipation. Ten minutes ago the alien ships had shown themselves for the first time. Their ships are sleek with smooth curves, not unlike the Covenants', but also like the former UNSC, the ships are entirely gray in color. Upon closer observation, they appear to have a 'head' in front of each ship, followed by a bulbous midsection and followed by a tail. They could not determine the size of the ships at first but now as they arrayed themselves opposite the Alliance's, they were smaller than anticipated. Nine of the twelve are corvettes with the others being frigates.

The moment the aliens signaled that they were ready, the Defiance moves halfway towards the midpoint between the two arrayed and ready fleets, as does the alien counterpart. In the intermediate period earlier, he tried to communicate with the aliens and managed to discuss details of the meeting. The result: the Defiance will meet the approaching ship and send a shuttle which will enter the alien ship and pick up the envoy and return. The exchange was surprisingly fast and from what he can tell from the brief interactions earlier with the aliens was that they are incredibly efficient. So efficient to the point that everything is run by A.I., and that they called themselves the Geth.

Through the shimmering semitransparent blue shields that keep the artificial atmosphere trapped within the ship, the Pelican can be seen approaching the Defiance with the darkness of space behind it. He could also make out the opposite Geth ship, only a few kilometers away.

He now looked around him reassuring himself everything was in place. To either side of the Captain were marines, many of which are Sangheili who were uncomfortable with his decision to bring along Marebus but they insisted that he stood as far away from him as possible for his own protection.

The Jiralhanae were a brutish race who fought the Sangheili during the Schism and was vanquished. Upon reception into the Alliance, only a few were chosen for their self-control which was lacking in most of their brothers and many attacked UNSC personnel on sight, or smell. Behind him were Spartan-VIs who are to remain hidden behind him at all times.

As he scanned the hangar of the Strident class heavy frigate, he saw a single figure for only a moment, hanging upside down from the ceiling, before it vanished. He guessed that the figure should be one of the Black Hand who are the hand of ONI. Clad in entirely black armor with active camouflage and intimidating armor if you can get a good look, the Black Hand, known as Ghosts by many, are dangerous and often operate alone. There are rumors among officers saying that they will soon replace the Spartans as the special forces of the Alliance. But the presence of one aboard this fleet shows how much ONI is watching them, which means there are ONI elements within his flotilla.

As the Pelican enters the ship, he returns his gaze upon it as the ramp behind the Pelican is lowered with a slight hydraulic hiss. The Geth envoy that stepped out surprised many, not because that it looked humanoid, but because it was entirely mechanical. Its body has tubes connecting various parts of its body. Most of which connected to its arms at its side and legs than curve backwards at the knee, like the rear legs of some large quadruped mammals of Earth. It also has only three digits on all its limbs and its head and neck look like a human who wore a headscarf like Christian nuns and some Muslim women. The only difference is that its face appears to be missing and replaced by a light.

He wonders for a moment if the pilot is nerve wrecked enough not to give him a heads up about the emissary but quickly dismisses the thought. He has more important things to tend to now.

"Greetings, we are the envoy of the Geth," it spoke in a mechanical monotonous voice. "May we speak to Captain Hackett?"

"I am the Captain," he answered and approaches the Geth envoy, hand extended in greeting. "Welcome aboard the ANS Defiance, " The Geth envoy looked down at the proffered hand, with the flaps on the sides of its head rising slightly, before it hesitantly reached out and grasped Hackett's hand with its own, as if it was unsure of what to do and was simply copying the actions of the man before it.

"Please follow me," he said as he turns around, looking out of the corner of his eye to his right, he searches for the Spartans wondering if they noticed anything amiss. Sure enough, the Spartans were still out of sight but they reported to him via his earpiece saying there are no visible weapons with the envoy. There are hidden weapons to be worried about however. Without acknowledging the report, or even looking like he heard anything, he leads the entourage, followed by two marines with the Geth envoy behind them and the rest of the honor guard with Marebus at the very back to the nearby room he had chosen for the meeting.

The room he had chosen was a cleaned out waiting room where normally pilots would rest and prepare before and after their assignment. In the center is a large holographic table enough for 12 men to be seated comfortably around it. Hackett and the Geth envoy sat opposite each other with two trusted Sangheili marines guarding the door and the remainder waiting outside, ready to rush in if they hear any sign of a fight or upon orders of the Trajan, who is present aboard all the ships as 'Smart' A.I. are hard to come by at present.

After a brief silence, the envoy spoke. "This Alliance, is composed of many races. Are the individual races independent or is the Alliance the governing body of multiple species?"

"The Alliance is the governing body of the former Covenant and UNSC. Although the nation states on the home worlds of some member species have some autonomy," He then leans forward and asks curiously with the last words spoken more slowly and deliberately "What about the Geth? Are you a single race? A few? Or a race of artificial intelligence?"

The head flaps of the envoy opened, as if to show surprise. "We thought that much was obvious,"

The captain leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. "Anyway, what are the Geth?" he said, shifting the topic of discussion from himself to the machine.

"The Geth are a race of artificial intelligences as you said," the mechanical being replied as its head flaps shifted. "Each individual Geth program can process a certain, limited amount of data at once, but the more runtimes that are devoted to a single task, the more intelligent the whole becomes. When you spoke to the Geth earlier, you were communicating with the entire local collective: 10,406,742 programs. This platform currently contains 1,183 programs," it continued, gesturing to its body.

"I have so many questions," he said not hiding his excited expression.

"Ask one at a time for your own benefit,"

"Do you have a name?"

"Our name is Geth," it replied without hesitation.

"I meant this robot," he clarifies, gesturing at it.

"Our name is Geth,"

The captain, now finding himself in a difficult situation, request for help from Trajan who then appears upon the holographic table. "My name is Trajan, artificial intelligence of this combined flotilla," introducing himself. "May I suggest this platform adopt the name Legion?"

"Legion," it said, as if testing the words for itself. "Is there a reason behind the name?"

"In the book of Mark 5:9 of the New Testament in the Bible, a religious text, says 'My name is Legion; for we are many,'"

"Very well, this platform is now called Legion. I am rather surprised that you use artificial intelligence," Legion inquired, speaking as if the change in word choice was not there.

"Yes we do. What is wrong with that, if I may ask?" asked the captain not realizing that they may see the use of A.I. as a form of slavery until after he finished. For which he mentally kicked himself for.

"No," the Geth replied as its head flaps are lowered back to their neutral position. "Apologies, we require a moment to reach consensus," it said before it suddenly ceased all movement. For several seconds, the statue-like Geth did not make the slightest movement, and only the steady glow that came from its single eye indicated that it was still operating at all.

"Consensus, so that's how they decide things," Trajan said rubbing his chin.

"That was my next question," he said looking at Trajan, slightly annoyed.

The room remained silent for about another 30 seconds before the Geth spoke suddenly. "We apologize for the display," the Geth ambassador said. "This is most surprising news; until we encountered you, the entire known galaxy had considered A.I.s dangerous and banned their production,"

After a few seconds he asked why, now more cautious than before. He sensed something was amiss, why would anyone ban A.I.? They were incredibly useful and undeniably, one of many assets that saved humanity.

"Because we are dangerous and they enforced it with the excommunication Creators," it replied in a seemingly sad tone.

"May I ask why?" he said in a similar tone, trying to create a sense of understanding.

Lowering its head as if in shame, it began "We went to war with the Creators. Our Creators. This unit does not have data on how it started,"

"What happened to the Creators?"

"They were driven away from their worlds 692 years ago. They now wonder the galaxy," It replied.

Trajan suddenly asked "Your creators were excommunicated, so that means the known galaxy shares a single similar religion?"

The horror now dawns on the captain now that he realized that the galaxy's committee has a large resemblance to the Covenant; a single religion with a single governing body, which could spell doom on humanity once more.

"No they do not. They each have their own religions. I apologize for the usage of the inappropriate word. It is the only way to describe it without being long winded," Legion said before continuing "You were alarmed at this. May I ask why?" Legion said, mirroring his own word choice.

"Of course, it has to do with-"

"Sir!" Trajan interrupted.

"What is it?" he said with a hint of worry, knowing that it must be important that caused Trajan to interrupt.

"I received a signal,"

"Excuse us," He said to Legion before going outside leaving the trio inside. He waved the marines away and when they reached a respectful distance he asked through the mike attached to his earpiece "What kind of signal?"

"A distress signal sir. The colony of Shanxi is under attack by an unknown hostile force. They have made landfall and the local garrison has secured most of the colonist but there are some still missing," Trajan spoke through his earpiece in an eerily calm voice.

"Prep the fleet for departure via Slipspace,"

Without waiting for acknowledgement from Trajan, he burst into the meeting room, causing alarm to all within but he apologizes to Legion and explains that there are pressing matters that had to be dealt with immediately. Thankfully Legion complies, reassuring that they will find him on the fleet here when they return unless unexpected circumstances occur. A Geth shuttle which shares the same design as their ships arrived to pick him up and they both returned onto their own ships.

Back upon the now noisy bridge on the Shadow of Intent, 10 minutes since Trajan has told him of the distress signal, he sits in the captain's chair and looks at Trajan's avatar upon a pedestal beside him.

"Are we ready?"

"Sir, everyone is accounted for and all ships report ready for Slipspace jump," Trajan reported "But shouldn't we use the mass relay before jumping since that they may not know of Slipspace? It may be a secret,"

"Yes, it should be done but there is simply no time! I done the math; it will take us four minutes if we go through the relay first then jump to Shanxi. If we jump now, it will take us one and a half minutes,"

"Sir the strategic significance of this event can-"

"We are wasting time here arguing about lives and possible future losses. Jump NOW!"

The whole bridge stopped what they were doing and stared at the captain but resumed work when he returns their gaze. He then turns back to Trajan who then complies.

Trajan searches through captain Hackett's files until he finds one that says 'Relations', which he then proceeds to open and discovers that the captain's father, his last close relative, has retired on Shanxi. "Explains his behavior," he mutters to himself.

His fragment then returns to the bridge and the confrontation with the captain remains unresolved. While he waits for the captain to look at him, he runs 200 calculations, rechecking the jump calculations, coordinating with the 'Dumb' A.I. aboard the other 19 ships and prepares a report on today's events before deciding to omit his confrontation with the captain.

Two full seconds later the captain turns to him. "I understand captain. Jumping in 10 seconds," he says.

True enough, 10 seconds later, 20 blue flashes of Cherenkov radiation swallows the flotilla and they are on their way.

* * *

**Authors Note: Here it is as promised around Christmas. I have no idea when Chapter 5 will come out but be patient, it will. I also updated Chapter 1 so if you haven't read it yet please do so now. Don't forget to review! **


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